Research Outputs
Permanent URI for this communityhttps://hdl.handle.net/20.500.14288/2
Browse
17 results
Search Results
Publication Open Access Detecting structured repetition in child-surrounding speech: evidence from maximally diverse languages(Elsevier, 2022) Lester, Nicholas A.; Moran, Steven; Allen, Shanley E.M.; Pfeiler, Barbara; Stoll, Sabine; Department of Psychology; Küntay, Aylin C.; Faculty Member; Department of Psychology; College of Social Sciences and Humanities; 178879Caretakers tend to repeat themselves when speaking to children, either to clarify their message or to redirect wandering attention. This repetition also appears to support language learning. For example, words that are heard more frequently tend to be produced earlier by young children. However, pure repetition only goes so far; some variation between utterances is necessary to support acquisition of a fully productive grammar. When individual words or morphemes are repeated, but embedded in different lexical and syntactic contexts, the child has more information about how these forms may be used and combined. Corpus analysis has shown that these partial repetitions frequently occur in clusters, which have been coined variation sets. More recent research has introduced algorithms that can extract these variation sets automatically from corpora with the goal of measuring their relative prevalence across ages and languages. Longitudinal analyses have revealed that rates of variation sets tend to decrease as children get older. We extend this research in several ways. First, we consider a maximally diverse sample of languages, both genealogically and geographically, to test the generalizability of developmental trends. Second, we compare multiple levels of repetition, both words and morphemes, to account for typological differences in how information is encoded. Third, we consider several additional measures of development to account for deficiencies in age as a measure of linguistic aptitude. Fourth, we examine whether the levels of repetition found in child-surrounding speech is greater or less than what would have been expected by chance. This analysis produced a new measure, redundancy, which captures how repetitive speech is on average given how repeititive it could have been. Fifth, we compare rates of repetition in child-surrounding and adult-directed speech to test whether variation sets are especially prevalent in child-surrounding speech. We find that (1) some languages show increases in repetition over development, (2) true estimates of variation sets are generally lower than or equal to random baselines, (3) these patterns are largely convergent across developmental indices, and (4) adult-directed speech is reliably less redundant, though in some cases more repetitive, than child-surrounding speech. These results are discussed with respect to features of the corpora, typological properties of the languages, and differential rates of change in repetition and redundancy over children's development.Publication Open Access Distributed patterns of brain activity that lead to forgetting(Frontiers, 2011) Badre, David; Department of Psychology; Öztekin, İlke; PhD Student; Department of Psychology; College of Social Sciences and HumanitiesProactive interference (PI), in which irrelevant information from prior learning disrupts memory performance, is widely viewed as a major cause of forgetting. However, the hypothesized spontaneous recovery (i.e., automatic retrieval) of interfering information presumed to be at the base of PI remains to be demonstrated directly. Moreover, it remains unclear at what point during learning and/or retrieval interference impacts memory performance. In order to resolve these open questions, we employed a machine-learning algorithm to identify distributed patterns of brain activity associated with retrieval of interfering information that engenders PI and causes forgetting. Participants were scanned using functional magnetic resonance imaging during an item recognition task. We induced PI by constructing sets of three consecutive study lists from the same semantic category. The classifier quantified the magnitude of category-related activity at encoding and retrieval. Category-specific activity during retrieval increased across lists, consistent with the category information becoming increasingly available and producing interference. Critically, this increase was correlated with individual differences in forgetting and the deployment of frontal lobe mechanisms that resolve interference. Collectively, these findings suggest that distributed patterns of brain activity pertaining to the interfering information during retrieval contribute to forgetting. The prefrontal cortex mediates the relationship between the spontaneous recovery of interfering information at retrieval and individual differences in memory performance.Publication Open Access Editorial: Representational states in memory: where do we stand?(Frontiers, 2015) Cowan, Nelson; Department of Psychology; Öztekin, İlke; PhD Student; Department of Psychology; College of Social Sciences and HumanitiesThis editorial discusses representational states in memory. For decades researchers have assessed the interactions and dissociations across memory systems and representational states using behavioral investigations, seeking for the key principles that govern them. Recent advances in neuroscience have provided the field with a new set of tools that can be employed to complement and extend previous efforts by means of assessing the corresponding underlying neural mechanisms. In an effort to move toward a more unified perspective, this research topic brought together a collection of empirical, theoretical and review articles that collectively advance our understanding of representational states in memory, as well as bear the potential to reconcile some of the differences across the models. The authors conclude by highlighting several venues for future research. Recent advances in neuroscience now enable powerful approaches that combine behavioral indices along with complementary neuroscience methods that can utilize univariate and multivariate analyses of neuroimaging data on healthy individuals, as well as transcranial magnetic stimulation and lesion studies to test and infer similarities and dissociations across the hypothesized states of memory. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2015 APA, all rights reserved)Publication Open Access Effectiveness of Self-Help Plus in preventing mental disorders in refugees and asylum seekers in Western Europe: a multinational randomized controlled trial(Karger Publishers, 2021) Purgato, Marianna; Carswell, Kenneth; Tedeschi, Federico; Anttila, Minna; Au, Teresa; Bajbouj, Malek; Baumgartner, Josef; Biondi, Massimo; Churchill, Rachel; Cuijpers, Pim; Koesters, Markus; Gastaldon, Chiara; Lantta, Tella; Nose, Michela; Ostuzzi, Giovanni; Papola, Davide; Popa, Mariana; Roselli, Valentina; Sijbrandij, Marit; Tarsitani, Lorenzo; Turrini, Giulia; Valimaki, Maritta; Walker, Lauren; Wancata, Johannes; Zanini, Elisa; White, Ross; van Ommeren, Mark; Barbui, Corrado; Department of Psychology; Acartürk, Ceren; İlkkurşun, Zeynep; Faculty Member; Master Student; Department of Psychology; College of Social Sciences and Humanities; Graduate School of Social Sciences and Humanities; 39271; N/AIntroduction: Self-Help Plus (SH+) is a group-based psychological intervention developed by the World Health Organization for managing stress. Objective: to assess the effectiveness of SH+ in preventing mental disorders in refugees and asylum seekers in Western Europe. Methods: we conducted a randomized controlled trial in 5 European countries. Refugees and asylum seekers with psychological distress (General Health Questionnaire score >= 3), but without a Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, 5th edition (DSM-5) or ICD/10 diagnosis of mental disorder, as assessed with the Mini International Neuropsychiatric Interview (MINI), were randomized to SH+ or enhanced treatment as usual (ETAU). The primary outcome was the frequency of mental disorders with the MINI at 6 months. Secondary outcomes included the frequency of mental disorders at postintervention, self-identified problems, psychological symptoms, and other outcomes. Results: four hundred fifty-nine individuals were randomly assigned to SH+ or ETAU. For the primary outcome, we found no difference in the frequency of mental disorders at 6 months (Cramer V = 0.007, p = 0.90, RR = 0.96; 95% CI 0.52-1.78), while the difference significantly favored SH+ at after the intervention (secondary outcome, measured within 2 weeks from the last session; Cramer V = 0.13, p = 0.01, RR = 0.50; 95% CI 0.29-0.87). Conclusions: this is the first randomized indicated prevention study with the aim of preventing the onset of mental disorders in asylum seekers and refugees in Western Europe. As a prevention effect of SH+ was not observed at 6 months, but rather after the intervention only, modalities to maintain its beneficial effect in the long term need to be identified.Publication Open Access Forgetting emotional material in working memory(Oxford University Press (OUP), 2018) Singmann, Henrik; Department of Psychology; Mızrak, Eda; Öztekin, İlke; PhD Student; PhD Student; Department of Psychology; Graduate School of Social Sciences and HumanitiesProactive interference (PI) is the tendency for information learned earlier to interfere with more recently learned information. In the present study, we induced PI by presenting items from the same category over several trials. This results in a build-up of PI and reduces the discriminability of the items in each subsequent trial. We introduced emotional (e.g. disgust) and neutral (e.g. furniture) categories and examined how increasing levels of PI affected performance for both stimulus types. Participants were scanned using functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) performing a 5-item probe recognition task. We modeled responses and corresponding response times with a hierarchical diffusion model. Results showed that PI effects on latent processes (i.e. reduced drift rate) were similar for both stimulus types, but the effect of PI on drift rate was less pronounced PI for emotional compared to neutral stimuli. The decline in the drift rate was accompanied by an increase in neural activation in parahippocampal regions and this relationship was more strongly observed for neutral stimuli compared to emotional stimuli.Publication Open Access Impact of aging on the dynamics of memory retrieval: a time-course analysis(Elsevier, 2012) Güngör, Nur Zeynep; Badre, David; Department of Psychology; Öztekin, İlke; PhD Student; Department of Psychology; College of Social Sciences and HumanitiesThe response-signal speed–accuracy trade-off (SAT) procedure was used to provide an indepth investigation of the impact of aging on the dynamics of short-term memory retrieval. Young and older adults studied sequentially presented 3-item lists, immediately followed by a recognition probe. Analyses of composite list and serial position SAT functions found no differences in overall accuracy, but indicated slower retrieval speed for older adults. Analysis of false alarms to recent negatives (lures from the previous study list) revealed no differences in the timing or magnitude of early false alarms that are thought to reflect familiarity-based judgments. However, onset and accrual of recollective processing required for resolving interference was slower for older adults. These findings suggest that older adults have a selective impairment on controlled and recollective retrieval operations, and further specify this impairment to arise primarily from delayed onset of cognitive control potentially coupled with reduced availability of recollective information.Publication Open Access Interval timing by long-range temporal integration(Frontiers, 2011) Simen, Patrick; deSouza, Laura; Cohen, Jonathan D.; Holmes, Philip; Department of Psychology; Balcı, Fuat; Faculty Member; Department of Psychology; College of Social Sciences and Humanities; 51269Publication Open Access L2 vocabulary teaching by social robots: the role of gestures and on-screen cues as scaffolds(Frontiers, 2020) Department of Psychology; Lira, Özlem Ece Demir; Kanero, Junko; Oranç, Cansu; Koşkulu, Sümeyye; Franko, İdil; Göksun, Tilbe; Küntay, Aylin C.; Faculty Member; Department of Psychology; Graduate School of Social Sciences and Humanities; College of Social Sciences and Humanities; N/A; N/A; N/A; N/A; N/A; 47278; 178879Social robots are receiving an ever-increasing interest in popular media and scientific literature. Yet, empirical evaluation of the educational use of social robots remains limited. In the current paper, we focus on how different scaffolds (co-speech hand gestures vs. visual cues presented on the screen) influence the effectiveness of a robot second language (L2) tutor. In two studies, Turkish-speaking 5-year-olds (n = 72) learned English measurement terms (e.g., big, wide) either from a robot or a human tutor. We asked whether (1) the robot tutor can be as effective as the human tutor when they follow the same protocol, (2) the scaffolds differ in how they support L2 vocabulary learning, and (3) the types of hand gestures affect the effectiveness of teaching. In all conditions, children learned new L2 words equally successfully from the robot tutor and the human tutor. However, the tutors were more effective when teaching was supported by the on-screen cues that directed children's attention to the referents of target words, compared to when the tutor performed co-speech hand gestures representing the target words (i.e., iconic gestures) or pointing at the referents (i.e., deictic gestures). The types of gestures did not significantly influence learning. These findings support the potential of social robots as a supplementary tool to help young children learn language but suggest that the specifics of implementation need to be carefully considered to maximize learning gains. Broader theoretical and practical issues regarding the use of educational robots are also discussed.Publication Open Access MaR-T: designing a projection-based mixed reality system for nonsymbolic math development of preschoolers: guided by theories of cognition and learning(Association for Computing Machinery (ACM), 2019) Department of Psychology; Department of Electrical and Electronics Engineering; Göksun, Tilbe; Ürey, Hakan; Salman, Elif; Özcan, Oğuzhan; Beşevli, Ceylan; Faculty Member; Faculty Member; Faculty Member; Department of Psychology; Department of Electrical and Electronics Engineering; KU Arçelik Research Center for Creative Industries (KUAR) / KU Arçelik Yaratıcı Endüstriler Uygulama ve Araştırma Merkezi (KUAR); College of Social Sciences and Humanities; College of Engineering; Graduate School of Sciences and Engineering; 47278; 8579; N/A; 12532; N/ARecent developmental studies state that nonsymbolic number representation (i.e., more-less comparisons) is important for math development, and children's judgment about such non-numerical magnitudes can be affected by sensory properties (i.e., volume, space). Yet, to our knowledge, there are no tangible based systems for training this math concept. Building on theories of cognition and learning, we developed MaR-T, a projector-camera setup. This paper is a step towards investigating the effects of projection-based mixed-reality (MR) system with tangibles on nonsymbolic number representation of 3-to 5-year-old children. We present our user studies with a total of 14 participants, conducted to observe their interaction with the setup and the possible effects of our design on learning. The results indicate that MaR-T can provide active, engaging, and social learning, and our insights can inspire other interaction design and education studies.Publication Open Access Neuropsychological function at first episode in treatment-resistant psychosis: findings from the ÆsOP-10 study(Cambridge University Press (CUP), 2019) Kravariti, Eugenia; Demjaha, Arsime; Zanelli, Jolanta; Ibrahim, Fowzia; Wise, Catherine; MacCabe, James H.; Reichenberg, Abraham; Pilecka, Izabela; Morgan, Kevin; Fearon, Paul; Morgan, Craig; Doody, Gillian A.; Donoghue, Kim; Jones, Peter B.; Dazzan, Paola; Lappin, Julia; Murray, Robin M.; N/A; Kaçar, Anıl Şafak; PhD Student; Graduate School of Health SciencesBackground: neuropsychological investigations can help untangle the aetiological and phenomenological heterogeneity of schizophrenia but have scarcely been employed in the context of treatment-resistant (TR) schizophrenia. No population-based study has examined neuropsychological function in the first-episode of TR psychosis. Methods: we report baseline neuropsychological findings from a longitudinal, population-based study of first-episode psychosis, which followed up cases from index admission to 10 years. At the 10-year follow up patients were classified as treatment responsive or TR after reconstructing their entire case histories. Of 145 cases with neuropsychological data at baseline, 113 were classified as treatment responsive, and 32 as TR at the 10-year follow-up. Results: compared with 257 community controls, both case groups showed baseline deficits in three composite neuropsychological scores, derived from principal component analysis: verbal intelligence and fluency, visuospatial ability and executive function, and verbal memory and learning (p valuesâ 0.001). Compared with treatment responders, TR cases showed deficits in verbal intelligence and fluency, both in the extended psychosis sample (t =-2.32; p = 0.022) and in the schizophrenia diagnostic subgroup (t =-2.49; p = 0.017). Similar relative deficits in the TR cases emerged in sub-/sensitivity analyses excluding patients with delayed-onset treatment resistance (p values<0.01-0.001) and those born outside the UK (p values<0.05). Conclusions: Verbal intelligence and fluency are impaired in patients with TR psychosis compared with those who respond to treatment. This differential is already detectable-At a group level-At the first illness episode, supporting the conceptualisation of TR psychosis as a severe, pathogenically distinct variant, embedded in aberrant neurodevelopmental processes.